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Weekly Blog on creativity and what it takes to be an artist by David Limrite (artist, teacher, mentor & coach)

LESS THINKING, MORE CREATING

Me, working in my studio on a new series of pieces.

“Art represents the need of one human being to communicate with another.”

~Edvard Munch

After months of in-activity in my studio, I am finally working on a new body of work. These new pieces are inspired by the loss of my parents. My dad died 2 years ago and my mom passed away about 3 months ago. This new work will be divided up into 3 parts. This first series is entitled “Mourning Gowns.” These are the pieces that you see in the above photo. They are unfinished so I will talk about them in more detail in a future post.

Anyway, the point is, I have finally started these pieces after months of thinking, pondering, analyzing, researching and worrying about them. I could have started them awhile ago, but I was too busy thinking about them.

While a certain amount of thinking is good, too much thinking (and not enough creating) can turn into a tactic for stalling. It can become an excuse for not painting.

“I would like to start painting these new pieces, however, I am not finished thinking about them yet.”

I got caught up in waiting until I had these new pieces all figured out in my head before I could start working on them.

BIG MISTAKE!

When I finally started creating them, they looked nothing like I had pictured in my head. So, it felt as if I was starting over. Which ended up being a good thing. By actually painting these pieces, instead of only thinking about them, I have been able to take them, creatively, to places my brain was incapable of.

Art is a visual process. You have to create something, so your eyes have something to look at, in order to be able to make decisions visually.